Dang. Perhaps I spoke too soon. After staying up quite late last night fondling my S&B, and after sleeping on it all night ... I believe I'll be sending it back.
Please tell me if I'm being to fussy, as I've been accused of this before:
1. The brass frame is somewhat pitted, as if the brass was too hot or too cold when it was being poured. Machining marks were buffed instead of being removed and then buffed.
2. There were no safety notches in the cylinder per Cabelas' description. I'm thinking about buying the appropriate cutter, indexing it in the mill, and cutting one safety notch in the cylinder.
3. It already has cylinder drag marks from the bolt having razor sharp edges.
4. The cylinder pin retaining latch is undersized in length. Somebody installed an incorrectly sized washer under the screw and to "fix" the problem, which only exacerbated it. The problem is that the sides of the frame aren't perfectly parallel and the latch binds when rotated. I can either spot face the frame on the milling machine for parallelity in this area, or make a brass shim on the lathe to install under the screw.
5. The cylinder edges, trigger, muzzle, bolt, et cetera, are replete with razor sharp edges that should be eased and reblued in my estimation.
6. The grips overhang the frame in several areas.
Problem is, I really want an S&B; and if I return it, who's to say the replacement won't be worse? On the other hand, I really don't have the urge to take on another project right now. I'm thinkin' these issues are "the nature of the beast," and I should fix it the way I want it and make it my own.
Decisions, decisions.
